A mattress is a product in demand by consumers generally throughout the year, albeit demand is not necessarily even throughout the year. Mattresses are manufactured in several sizes, the most common sizes being referred to as king size, queen size and standard size. Mattresses are also made in smaller, or substandard sizes, for special purposes. Characteristically however, most if not all are bulky, relatively heavy, and quite difficult to handle. Moreover, it takes considerable space to store mattresses for which reason retail establishments must customarily set aside a relatively large area for the storage and display of mattresses.
Not uncommonly, a retailer will display one or several mattresses laid out or piled on box springs set out in a given area of a store. To the extent that an adequate number of mattress specimens representative of those in stock can be laid out for proper inspection, a customer can order a mattress of given type and style from those displayed, and a duplicate supplied to the customer from stock. This type of merchandising however is not altogether satisfactory in that considerable permanent space is required for maintaining the display, and if the mattresses must be piled on the box springs to save space considerable manual manipulation of the mattresses is necessary. Moreover, additional space is required to store the duplicate specimens not on permanent display. Mattress display and storage costs are thus relatively high in the operation of such establishments and, of course, such layout leaves much to be desired in terms of efficient distribution.
Some efforts have been made over the years to modernize, or revamp mattress storage and handling techniques. Most have been unsuccessful, or of such marginal value as to go virtually unnoticed by the industry as a whole. Apparently no mattress display and storage system has yet been developed which has attracted the attention of the industry in any significant way. Unfortunately, therefore there presently exists a need in the mattress retailing industry for an improved system, or apparatus useful for the display and storage of mattresses, particularly a system or apparatus capable of minimizing storage space and facilitating the handling and display of mattresses in a retail environment.